Wave after wave of burning flames were slashing its way through the shore. The flames made the very sand sizzle and crackle as it worked its way through the beach. What might look like a sight of chaos and mayhem to others to Spike though, it was actually relaxing. True, fire is a destructive being with intentions only to consume and destroy. However, it was a thing of beauty to watch the green flames dance and splash around like the sea. Spike envied how powerful and majestic the flames were, if only his flame could match such epic standards. Suddenly, the flames turned a violent dark blue. The flames reminded Spike of the blue flame he produced from his mouth when he mixed the watch’s magic with his flame. The blue flames really gave Spike the feeling as if he was staring at a real ocean. With the exception of the temperature sky rocketing, Spike still felt reasonably relaxed. He did not fear the flames would work its way up the mountain, where he had been staring at the flames show case.
The flames though, were crawling its way up the mountain slowly but with growing pace. A large wave of the dark flames slammed against the mountain, where Spike was sitting, and left scorch marks all along the face of the mountain. Fortunately, mountains did not feelings for if they did this particular mountain would be cringing in agony. The heat emitting from the ocean of blue fire was starting to bother Spike though. It felt hotter than lava and Spike swore that the heat was slowly burning his scales. Not wanting to be burnt to a crisp, Spike decided it would be best to leave the mountain before he fainted from the raging flames.
As Spike walked from the mountain side, a loud roar and hiss erupted from behind him. Spike looked behind him and saw the blue flames had finally worked its way up the face of the mountain. Horrified, Spike ran from the blue flames. It seemed that the flame sensed Spike’s fear and pursued Spike. Hot on his heels, literally, the flames started to hiss madly, almost like a snake. Looking back, Spike saw that the flame took the form of a snake head and its mouth bared its enormous fangs at him. Fearing for his life, Spike kicked it into overdrive and ran with full speed. Adrenaline and panic pulsed through his veins and his very heart thumped madly. For a moment, it felt like his very heart would explode with all the thumping it was emitting.
The flames chased after Spike like a wounded animal. Spike was the poor prey while the ferocious fire was the dominating predator. At last, Spike was slowly using the energy to out run the ferocious blue fire. The fangs of the blue flames chomped on Spike’s heel but missed by a scale. Spike wasn’t sure for how long he could have out raced the hungry flames. At this rate, he felt for sure he was going to collapse any time soon. The flame took another bite at Spike, its aim true. Spikes leg burned violently, his scales being burnt and working its way to his skin, and the flame began to twist its way around Spikes body. The flames crushed Spike like a boa constrictor, but instead of it snapping Spike in half like a twig it felt like Spike was in a burning furnace. Wasting no time, the flames burnt Spikes scales like tissue paper and started to burn away at his skin.
The pain was unbearable, all the fibers in Spikes body screamed in agony. Spike knew death was imminent, but never expected to go down like this. The blue flames blocked the last of Spikes eyesight and everything went pitch black. Spike wasn’t sure if the flames had finally killed him and if so, death really felt painless. Inspecting his scales, Spike was glad to see no burn marks of any sort. A white light was present ahead and Spike perused it. However, when Spike finally got close to the white light it turned into the snake head, made of the blue flames that chased Spike before. Screaming, Spike tried to run but was paralyzed in place due to being terrified. The blue snake roared and rushed right into Spike mouth. The horrible burning was now in Spike stomach. Feeling like his very intestine was melting under the heat of the fire, Spike groaned in pain and collapsed to his knees. Just as Spike started to feel faint, Spike burped with such violent force that his very skull rattled around like a bobble head. The blue fire roared its way through the air.
“NO!” Spike yelled into the night.
Feeling slightly embarrassed about his outburst, Spike checked to see if anyone was awake to hear his yell. Not a soul was present in the library, which made Spike relax a bit. A scroll was near his basket and Spike wasn’t sure how it got there. Deciding the scroll might give some answers; Spike unrolled it and began to check for the signature of the sender. There it was Ticks signature was right at bottom right corner of the scroll. Spike wasn’t exactly sure why Tick felt the need to send a letter to him, after all Tick did say he was content with Spikes progress so far.
Spike, I am sorry to be the bringer of bad news but the book about the history of Discord had just updated its self recently. It mentions the bound between your friends breaking and a creature causing the disturbance. Princess Celestia does not wish to alarm the community if it can be avoided. So with that in mind, is there anything causing some kind of friction between your friends Spike? If so, please let me know so that Celestia and I can figure out a way to prevent Discord from returning.
Sincerely,
Tick
When Spike finished going over the scroll multiple times, he still wasn’t able to figure out the cause of the book mentioning the stone prison for Discord will no longer hold up and the Elements will fall. All this sounded like a bad fairy tale with a lousy ending to Spike. However, Tick’s work was nothing to laugh at so Spike considered which of his friends might be angry with one another. Fluttershy was out of the question, she was too shy to seek out an altercation. Applejack had grown a short temper as of late, due to farm work starting to catch up to her fatigue. Pinkie Pie was just too happy to be looking for problems, if anything Pinkie life involved parties and jokes. Twilight usually had her face too deep in books to bug anyone.
There was something that was making Spike doubt though. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were both in the hospital at the same time as he was. The only explanation to this was that something happened to them after Twilight froze him. But could it be? Spike thought about asking Twilight about that night, but realized it was still dark outside. The last thing Spike wanted to do was annoy Twilight, let alone in the middle of the night. She might have him reorganize the entire library as a punishment, which didn’t sound very fun to him in the least. Still, he was awake and it was rather pointless not to do something productive now. Retreating to his old habit, Spike took out his pocket watch and twisted the knobs absent mindedly. Looking down, Spike was dumbfounded to see that the usual purple button turned orange. He couldn’t believe how he complete forgot how he managed to get AJ timeline in the watch. Having nothing better to do, Spike pressed onto the orange button and time froze instantly.
Spike wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do next. AJ’s future seemed bland but at the same time Spike felt that he wouldn’t be surprised if the opposite was true. Figuring it be more fun to venture to the past then the future, Spike turned the hands counter clockwise a fair amount. Spike’s entire body felt like it was being squeezed into a small box. The claustrophobic feel was starting to become too much for Spike to bare now. Soon as it began, it stopped. Spike was frankly in relief; he thought he was going to pass out.
The sun was beginning to rise on the farm. It really made the scene so much more surreal, the leaves and the very brown dirt had a certain charm to it. Spike couldn’t help but be in awe, letting his jaw go slightly slack as well. He wondered vaguely if the Applejack had watched sunsets here. This was something Spike would happily wake up to see, instead of a bunch of heavy books about magic and history. However, the time for sight-seeing was not now, there was a job to be done. If Applejack usually woke up at the crack of dawn to start work, she should be coming out of the house by now.
What Spike saw instead was a tall red stallion coming from the front door of house. That couldn’t be right; Mac should be a young colt at this point. Spike decided to follow the large red stallion to see if he looked familiar. The stallion bucked trees with tremendous strength, nearly leaving hoof imprints in the bark as he bucked away at an apple tree. The large stallion looked remarkably like Big Mac, except he had gray eyes while Mac had green. Besides with very small physical appearances, it was evident both of them had some serious strength to perform their labor on the farm. Spike guessed this large stallion was the father of Big Mac, Applejack, and Applebloom. A yellow mare came trotting from the house, a stetson hat that looked like AJ’s on her head, and made her way to the large stallion. She covered his dark orange hair with the hat she brought her, gave him a kiss on the lips, and left to go back to the house. The yellow mare looked so much like Applebloom; you could have mistaken them for twins. The mare also seemed to be pregnant, probably Applebloom, and she looked a little tired but happy all the same.
It was such a heartwarming moment for Spike. This bound was the kind of thing Spike lacked in his life, a father to give him advice and a mother to seek comfort in when he wasn’t sure what to do. All he had was Twilight, who he considered a sister. True, Twilight had many words of wisdom to share with Spike, but it wasn’t enough at times. When he would ask her about improving the power in his fire breathing she would have no answer and desperately searched for answers to give to Spike, which never came. It seems no pony would ever dare even thinking about how to train a dragon to be more deadly than it already was. So many questions Spike would ask Twilight about being a dragon to his egg and the only response he got from her was “I am not sure.” or “There isn’t anything in the books. But I’ll keep looking!” and an answer never came.
Now, Spike knew Twilight was only so limited about knowledge of dragons. But still, his hunger to know more about himself and his kind never dwindled in the slightest. Spike wondered what his parents would say, if he had, when they saw he was being raised by ponies rather than dragons, like him. Sadly, he can only do just that. Guess what they wanted from him. Guess what his parents would have thought him. A whole lot of guess work, but so little answers to those questions.
Turning the hands of time slightly forward, Spike wanted to know what became of AJ’s parents, seeing as that the Apple Family never mentions them let alone that he has never seen them. Spike found that he was in the same kitchen in which he, Applejack, and Rainbow had drunk that “special” cider. Granny Smith, who looked younger but by at least ten years at best, and AppleJack’s mom and dad were sitting at the table, all their faces looked strained with concern. Granny cleared her throat and started the conversation.
“Funds are lower than the usual yew two. Hate to say it, but at tis here rate, we might have no choice but to close up Sweet Apple Acres.” Granny said sadly.
The yellow mare leaned into the large red stallions shoulder and began to cry. But, the stallion looked defiant and spoke up.
“This ain’t the time to hang it up! We can still dig ourselves outta tis here budget hole!” The stallion said with determination. The yellow mares sobbing stopped at once and she looked up at her husband hopelessly.
“Wat do y’all suggest we do then Big Lance, I ain’t going to be good for work forever and Alison can only do so much.” Granny said in a testy voice.
“Overseas.” Lance replied simply.
Granny grew wide eyed at this and so did Alison.
“So, yer tellin me that it’s bout time Sweet Apple Acres heads overseas?” Granny asked.
“Eyup, that’s mah plan.” Lance replied with a confident smile.
The scene changes dramatically after Lance spoke. Spike was surrounded by sea and had his feet firmly planted on a large boat. There were so many crates and barrels that Spike thought this boat were one of those large cargo ships. Spike walked to the captain’s deck to have a good view and found Lance and Alison lingering in the room. Lance was missing his light brown stetson and his dark orange hair looked wild. Alison looked a little sea sick but happy to be in the strong hooves of Lance. An old gray stallion was steering the ship, his fur looked like leather and had a slight hunch. Considering how old the stallion looked, he looked more than able to beat up even present day Big Mac with ease.
“The bearing sea is a bit stirred then it usually is today.” The old gray stallion wheezed.
“Oh quit being so darn positive Howard.” teased Alison.
“She’s right, lighten up a bit Howard.” Lance added with a chuckle.
“How fun it is to be young and foolhardy. And I see you don’t have that old hat with you Lance.” Howard croaked back.
“Yeah, gave it to mah girl Applejack for her birthday awhile back. She just loves it.” Lance replied proudly.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash and everypony was thrown to the ground by the force of the collision. Remarkably, Howard still had a grip on the wheel and quickly steadied himself back into a standing position.
“Abandon ship! Grab your vest you monkeys, I do not want no one dying on me today or ever for that matter! Move it!” barked Howard through the loud speaker.
Spike could see hundreds of stallions scrambling to find life rafts and such. It was like watching a swarm of bee’s hovering around there hive, so many ponies jumbled together. Howard turned to Lance and Alison and began to speak quickly.
“The hull had been breached. The ship will sink in less than an hour at the rate the water keeps rushing in. I advise, the two of you make your way down to the dock and hop on a boat outta here.” Howard said in a rushed tone.
Alison looked shocked at the situation at hand while Lance didn’t take his eyes off Howard.
“And what about you Howard, I am not going to leave you behind!” Lance said.
Howard smiled at Lance, making his wrinkles stretch even more.
“A true captain goes down with his ship. I rather die than have my crew members die on me while I walk away from this.” Howard replied.
“Come on Howard, you have kids and a wife back home.” Lance pleaded.
“Kids don’t like me and so doesn’t my wife Lance. My home and probably my wife as well has been the sea.” Howard confessed sadly.
“Don’t talk crazy! We still have time!” Lance demanded angrily.
“I saw my wife fooling around with one of my crew mates Lance! You think I want to go back home to that!” Howard snapped back hoarsely.
Lance was beginning to open his mouth in retaliation but Jessie grabbed him by the shoulder. He looked down at Alison and saw that she just shook her head. For a moment, Lance looked strained. It was evident he wanted to make a last ditch effort to persuade Howard to leave but knew it would prove fruitless. At last, Lance lowered his head in defeat but immediately picked his head back up.
“Don’t you die on me Howard, or so help me I will drag you from the gates of heaven myself!” Lance yelled to Howard.
“Ha, right back at you Lance! Also, say hi to your kids for me! They always were pleasant to me when I came over to visit.” Howard called back to Lance.
The couple left Howard on the deck alone and went straight down to the dock. As Spike began to follow the couple, he looked back and saw that the old leathery face had let one tear drop from his wrinkled eye. Even for as tough as Howard looked, he still had a heart. Spike looked down at the dock and saw the mob of ponies trying desperately to get on a life boat. Lance and Alison were nowhere to be seen in the mess. Taking out the pocket watch, Spike absent mindedly began to twist random knobs on the watch. The pocket watch had become a clutch for Spike now. Whenever when he was in doubt or lost in during time traveling, it would lead him to the right direction. True, it never spoke a word but it offered assistance without the need of a voice.
“Mind helping me out?” Spike pleaded with the watch.
The familiar blue aura started to surround the watch in reply. Soon, Spike felt weightless and found he was floating over the dock. Spike wasn’t sure where Lance or Alison was, but it seemed like the watch knew none the less. Going into a nose dive, Spike darted toward a boat nearby. Once he landed, Spike saw that he sat right next to Lance accompanied by Alison. There were a few other stallions on the small boat as well, none look familiar though. As the small boat parted away from the large ship, Spike looked back and noticed one end of the large ship started to become submerged in water. For a moment, Spike wondered if Howard did ever make it out alive from this mess.
As Spike turned his attention back to the sea, he saw a large wave making its way toward their small boat. Spike wondered if it would have been better to remain on the ship to die or have this boat break and drown at sea. Neither option sounded pleasant.
“Don’t worry Alison, everything will be all right.” Lance said happily. Alison just hugged Lance tightly and didn’t let go.
The wave came even closer and soon consumed the small boat. The last thing Spike saw was the couple hugging tightly as water rushed around them. When the wave came toward Spike, he found himself back in Sweet Apple Acres. Not a drop of water was on his scales. Spike felt slightly guilty about being worried for his own safety even when nothing could hurt him, learning he had this ability when he hit the ground after falling from the sky. Spike wondered if Applejacks parents’ death were painful. Drowning sounded brutal, with water rushing into your lungs until you can’t breathe no more. It sounded dreadful and it wasn’t something Spike hoped he never had to experience.
Applejack, Applebloom, Granny Smith and Macintosh were waiting at the front door of the house. They all looked rather nervous.
“Pa’s promised he would be on time, like always.” Applejack said nervously. She rotated Lance’s Stetson hat to relieve some of her nerves.
A brown Pegasus landed in front of the Apple Family, he looked sad. Spike had a dreadful feeling that the Pegasus was going to tell them that Lance and Alison died. Not wanting to hear the news, Spike tried to walk away from the scene, but the audible cries let from the Apple Family still could be heard. It was heart breaking to hear Applebloom yelling for Lance. Tears were falling from her eyes relentlessly and Applejack held her little sister close to her to comfort her. Even the strong and mellow Big Mac was crying softly.
Not wanting to remain in Applejacks any longer, Spike quickly turned the hands of time clockwise until they stopped. Spike saw his surroundings grow blurred and distorted, but soon realigned itself back into Sweet Apple Acres. There was a large crowd close by on top of a hill and they seemed to be gathering around something. Taking it that this is Applejacks resting place, Spike walked up the hill as fast as he could. It was odd; every funeral in the future that Spike attended it was in this fancy room. However, it seemed Applejack had no interest in that kind of thing and wanted to do things as simple as she could. Once Spike reached the top of the hill, he was able to see the entire farm from up here. It was quite a sight to behold, everything looked so small and colorful from way up here.
Spike noticed the crowd was made up of the entire Apple Family clan. Even old Braeburn was present in the crowd. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were sitting at the front row. The sheer amount of family that came to say there good byes to Applejack were equivalent to how many high ranking government officials came to Twilights funeral. Even future Spike was present at the funeral, but hung at the back to him being too big to fit in a chair. One thing struck as odd to Spike, Pinkie was here. Last time he checked, Pinkie looked like she died when she was much younger than this. Yet, here she was alive but older. Did something happen in the present to change the how Pinkie died? Tick did mention how things change with the slightest decision and maybe it applied to this.
One of Applejacks relatives was speaking now. He sounded dull and dreadful with his monotone voice. It reminded Spike of the previous priest that drone on and on in Twilights funeral.
“Applejack was ninety years old when she passed away. Her life was spent in this farm and she was excellent with a lasso. Her kids are more than happy to continue working on this farm so AJ will have nothing to fear.” The relative said with a smile.
Ninety he said? That meant that Fluttershy was due to pass away shortly and probably Pinkie as well. A familiar empty feeling entered Spike’s heart again. Soon, he would be alone with no Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and even Rarity. The only thing he would be able to remember them by is in his memory. Still, there was a spark of hope left. His friend’s kids and grandkids will hopefully come to him, asking him stories of their relatives. It’s like he would become a large overgrown history book for the future generation. Not that he minded, at least then he wouldn’t be so lonely.
Spike wasn’t sure if he wanted to feel sad after watching the funeral. He had grown tired of fussing over this, but it always nagged at the back of his mind. How was Tick able to constantly know that the world around him was slowly crumbling underneath his very hooves? Everything he sees will soon become dust and die. It was amazing that Tick was so upbeat even with all this knowledge on his shoulders. Spike pressed the orange button on his pocket watch again and returned to the present.
Time travel always seemed to eat away at Spikes energy these days. Spike wondered if he should wait for Twilight to wake up, but it was midnight at this time. Not wanting to hang around for several hours to have Twilight wake up, Spike crawled back into his basket and tried to fall asleep. Spike dreams were filled with a large wave ready to knock him deep into its depth. A blue Pegasus hugged him tightly as the wave swallowed both of them whole.